It's a goal for millions and millions of families every year to keep the Christmas spending within a certain amount of money, but you can still afford the gifts because your loved ones will
enjoy them. This concern (忧虑) is becoming greater and greater theses days. Even so, there are several things that you can do to help.
Hit the sales. No one wants to get up at four o'clock in the morning and fight to get a good deal (交易) on Black Friday (the first Friday at Christmas time). It's surely very difficult to pick up the courage and get out there in the cold for a good deal. But sometimes it can be well worth. Many retailers (零售商) offer specials all through the day. Some even offer online Black Friday specials, so we may still be able to get a great deal on Black Friday.
Read advertisements regularly. Once the Christmas shopping season is coming, retailers will be hungry for business. They will try their best to get us into the store. Please read the weekly advertisements of sales among the major retailers from time to time. We may be lucky enough to find different prices for the same thing in different shops.
Shop online. Some of us don't like running from store to store to get the best price on the perfect gift. Some of us don't like to go out in the cold at all, and then, we can do online shopping. The world of online shopping makes it possible for us to visit all the major retailers and some specialty stores (专卖店)on the Internet. We can find exactly what we are looking for at the best possible price without even having to leave the house. With traditional Christmas shopping, it will always take us a long time to wait if we want to get the perfect gift.
1.The underlined word “specials” in Paragraph 2 means .
A. special gifts B. special and expensive things
C. special price D. special things
2.We can have more choices to get a good deal .
A. on the Internet B. in specialty stores
C. from salesmen D. from retailers
3.In this passage the writer wants to .
A. tell us to shop online
B. tell us the best way to do shopping
C. show us how hard it is to do Christmas shopping
D. give us advice on how to get a good deal at Christmas time
4.From the passage we can infer (推断) that ______.
A. people are surely able to get a good deal on Friday
B. it is possible for people to buy the perfect Christmas gifts with less money
C. retailers will be hungry because they are busy selling Christmas gifts
D. with traditional Christmas shopping, people can't buy the perfect gifts
I was being interviewed by a senior manager for a major insurance（保险业）company. I told him honestly why I wanted the job——I needed to keep my family in Boston. My wife recently died of a heart attack. A job in Boston would help me reduce some of the extreme trauma （精神创伤）and pain of the loss for my 16-year-old daughter. It was important for me to keep her in her high school. I could still hardly talk about the loss of my wife.
Bruce, the interviewer, was politely empathetic, but he didn't probe any further. He admitted my loss and with great respect, moved on to another subject. After the next round of the interview, Bruce took me to lunch with another person. Then he asked me to take a walk with him. He told me that he, too, had lost his wife. And, like me, he had also been married 20 years and had three children.
In his sharing, I realized that he had experienced the same pain as I had ——a pain that was almost impossible to explain to someone who had not lost a beloved one. He offered his business card and home phone number and suggested that, if I need help of just want someone to talk to, I should feel free to give him a call.
Whether I got the job or not, he wanted me to know that he was there if I ever needed help. When he had no idea if we would ever see each other again, he helped our family deal with one of the greatest losses. He turned the normally cold business interview into a caring support for another person in need.
1.The underlined word “empathetic ”in the second paragraph means ____.
A.善良的 B.容易相处的 C.聪明的 D. 同情的
2.Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE according to the passage？
A. Bruce invited the writer to lunch later.
B. Bruce shared his life experience with the writer.
C. Bruce was willing to help the writer.
D. Bruce finally gave the job to the writer.
3.We can infer（推断） from the passage that ______.
A. Bruce and the writer saw each other often.
B. the writer got little help from Bruce.
C. the writer learned much from the job interview.
D. the writer had a better life afterwards.
4.What is the best title for the passage？
A. An Act of Kindness B. A Pleasant Interview
C. The Same Experience D. An Important Lesson
On May 23, 1989, Stefania Follini came out from a cave at Carlsbad, New Mexico. She hadn't seen the sun for eighteen and a half weeks. Stefania was in a research program, and the scientists in the program were studying body rhythms. In this experiment Stefania had spent 130 days in a cave, 30 feet in depth.
During her time in the cave, Stefarua had been completely alone except for two white mice. Her living place had been very comfortable, but there had been nothing to tell her the time. She'd had no clocks or watches, no television or radio. There had been no natural light and the temperature had always been kept at 21℃.
The results were very interesting. Stefania had been in the cave for over four months, but she thought she had been there for only two. Her body clock had changed. She hadn't kept to a 24-hour day, she had stayed awake for 20-25 hours and then had slept for 10 hours. She had eaten fewer meals and had lost 171bs in weight as a results! She had also become rather depressed (抑郁) .
How had she spent her time in the cave? As part of the experiment she'd done some physical and mental tests. She'd recorded her daily activities and the results of the tests on a computer. This computer had been specially programmed for the project. Whenever she was free, she'd played cards, read books and listened to music. She'd also learned French from tapes.
The experiment showed that our body clocks are affected by light and temperature. For example, the pattern of day and night makes us wake up and go to sleep. However, people are affected in different ways. Some people wake up naturally at 5:00 am, but others don't start to wake up till 9:00 or 10:00 am. This affects the whole daily rhythm. As a result, the early risers, on the other hand, are tired during the day and only come to life in the afternoon or evening!
1.Stefania stayed in the cave for a long time because_______．
A. she was asked to do research on mice
B. she wanted to experience loneliness
C. she was the subject of a study
D. she needed to record her life
2.What is a cause for the change of Stefania's body clock?
A. Eating fewer meals.
B. Having more hours of sleep.
C. Lacking physical exercise.
D. Getting no natural light.
3.Where does the text probably come from?
A. A novel. B. A news story.
C. A pet magazine. D. A travel guide.
School activities for kids and teens
July is a month of fun-filled activities for kids and teens as long as you know where to find them. When you want some fun activities for July, consider these ideas happening in this month.
Secret of the Dragon
Time Monday, July 1, 2013, 10:30 am Cost Adult: $ 7.40 children (number 15 years): half Bookings Phone the booking office: 3403 2578
Address Brisbane Botanic Gardens Note Secret of the Dragon is a magical story about two children who are taken on a dragon ride to expel the universe. | The Search for Life:
Are We Alone? Time Thursday, July 4, 2013, 2:00 pm Cost Adult: $ 14.50 Children (under 15 years): $ 8.70 Bookings Phone the booking office: 3403 7689 Address Brisbane Botanic Gardens Note Are we truly alone in space? Is there any life out there? These are the questions asked in this show. |
Magic Class
Time Friday, July 12, 2013, 10:00 am Cost Free Bookings Please call 3403 8470 to book your place. Address Centenary Community hub, 171 Dandenong Rd Note Would you like to be a magician? Then join David, the magician, to learn about real magic with playing cards, coins, ring ropes and DIY projects and be able to become the life of the party. | Science with Me:
Making your own guitar Time Saturday, July 20, 2013, 3:00 pm Cost Free Bookings Please phone 3403 1226 to book your place. Address 10, Egginton Close Note Do you want to make a guitar with Katy and her mom? Science with Me is going to be with you. Please remember to bring a piece of wood, a hammer, some rubber bands and some nails with you. |
1.Alec is strongly interested in space life. He may go to _______.
A. Magic Class B. Science with Me
C. Secret of the Dragon D. The Search for Life
2.John and his 10-year-old son want to watch Secret of the Dragon. How much should they pay?
A. $7.40 B. $11.10 C. $14.80 D. $23.20
53. 3.According to the next, making a guitar needs the things except _______.
A. a piece of wood B. a hammer
C. some nails D. ring ropes
4.What do the four activities have in common?
A. They are all free.
B. They happen in the same place.
C. They are all weekend activities.
D. They can all be booked by phone.
完形填空
“Home stay is a form of study abroad program. It allows the visitor to rent a room from a local (当地的) family to better understand the local lifestyle. It also helps to improve the visitor’s _____ ability,” said a teacher during a school meeting last term. “Students who wish to learn more about _____ cultures or to get foreign experience should join this kind of holiday. I am _____ you won’t be disappointed (失望的).”
After this special meeting, I always _____ about this kind of holiday. Last month, I had a _____ at last to go on such a holiday with some of my schoolmates and we went to London, a place that I had wanted to _____ visit since years ago.
As we were still _____ , we had a group leader who _____ things carefully for us and looked after us. After we got to London, we went to stay with _____ families. I was lucky that my host family (寄宿家庭) was a white couple who had a daughter about my age. They _____ me as a daughter of their family during my stay there. They were _____ in me and I learnt a lot of things from them, too.
The holiday was filled with _____ every day. After breakfast, a local teacher would come to _____ us in his car. Then we would have classes or go on a sight-seeing trip to different places of interest like the Big Ben, the London Bridge, and the Buckingham Palace. We would go _____ to our own homes after the activities.
The holiday was a valuable _____ for me. I enjoyed every minute of it. Yet, time really flew fast. Three weeks later, we had to leave “home” for Hong Kong.
1.A. research B. activity C. language D. manage
2.A. eastern B. different C. popular D. foreign
3.A. happy B. sure C. sorry D. lucky
4.A. worried B. talked C. learned D. dreamt
5.A. hobby B. class C. fan D. chance
6.A. visit B. leave C. arrive D. show
7.A. thoughtful B. young C. healthy D. able
8.A. finished B. explained C. planned D. reviewed
9.A. different B. beautiful C. pleasant D. large
10.A. called B. treated C. carried D. liked
11.A. surprised B. excited C. interested D. worried
12.A. studies B. activities C. charities D. cries
13.A. drive B. ride C. show D. take
14.A. back B. down C. away D. on
15.A. information B. friend C. experience D. Suggestion
— I hope that I will have millions of dollars and I can buy my private (私人的) plane.
— ________.
A. You are welcome B. That’s very kind of you
C. In your dreams D. Thank you all the same
